How to print lines between two patterns, inclusive or exclusive (in sed, AWK or Perl)?

Question

I have a file like the following and I would like to print the lines between two given patterns `PAT1` and `PAT2`. ``` 1 2 PAT1 3 - first block 4 PAT2 5 6 PAT1 7 - second block PAT2 8 9 PAT1 10 - third block ``` I have read How to select lines between two marker patterns which may occur multiple times with awk/sed but I am curious to see all the possible combinations of this, either including or excluding the pattern. How can I print all lines between two patterns?

Accepted Answer

Print lines between PAT1 and PAT2

```
$ awk '/PAT1/,/PAT2/' file
PAT1
3    - first block
4
PAT2
PAT1
7    - second block
PAT2
PAT1
10    - third block
```

Or, using variables:

```
awk '/PAT1/{flag=1} flag; /PAT2/{flag=0}' file
```

How does this work?

- `/PAT1/` matches lines having this text, as well as `/PAT2/` does.

- `/PAT1/{flag=1}` sets the `flag` when the text `PAT1` is found in a line.

- `/PAT2/{flag=0}` unsets the `flag` when the text `PAT2` is found in a line.

- `flag` is a pattern with the default action, which is to `print $0`: if `flag` is equal 1 the line is printed. This way, it will print all those lines occurring from the time `PAT1` occurs and up to the next `PAT2` is seen. This will also print the lines from the last match of `PAT1` up to the end of the file.

Print lines between PAT1 and PAT2 - not including PAT1 and PAT2

```
$ awk '/PAT1/{flag=1; next} /PAT2/{flag=0} flag' file
3    - first block
4
7    - second block
10    - third block
```

This uses `next` to skip the line that contains `PAT1` in order to avoid this being printed.

This call to `next` can be dropped by reshuffling the blocks: `awk '/PAT2/{flag=0} flag; /PAT1/{flag=1}' file`.

Print lines between PAT1 and PAT2 - including PAT1

```
$ awk '/PAT1/{flag=1} /PAT2/{flag=0} flag' file
PAT1
3    - first block
4
PAT1
7    - second block
PAT1
10    - third block
```

By placing `flag` at the very end, it triggers the action that was set on either PAT1 or PAT2: to print on PAT1, not to print on PAT2.

Print lines between PAT1 and PAT2 - including PAT2

```
$ awk 'flag; /PAT1/{flag=1} /PAT2/{flag=0}' file
3    - first block
4
PAT2
7    - second block
PAT2
10    - third block
```

By placing `flag` at the very beginning, it triggers the action that was set previously and hence print the closing pattern but not the starting one.

Print lines between PAT1 and PAT2 - excluding lines from the last PAT1 to the end of file if no other PAT2 occurs

This is based on a solution by Ed Morton.

```
awk 'flag{
        if (/PAT2/)
           {printf "%s", buf; flag=0; buf=""}
        else
            buf = buf $0 ORS
     }
     /PAT1/ {flag=1}' file
```

As a one-liner:

```
$ awk 'flag{ if (/PAT2/){printf "%s", buf; flag=0; buf=""} else buf = buf $0 ORS}; /PAT1/{flag=1}' file
3    - first block
4
7    - second block

# note the lack of third block, since no other PAT2 happens after it
```

This keeps all the selected lines in a buffer that gets populated from the moment PAT1 is found. Then, it keeps being filled with the following lines until PAT2 is found. In that point, it prints the stored content and empties the buffer.

How to print lines between two patterns, inclusive or exclusive (in sed, AWK or Perl)?

Solution

Problem

Related problems